IntroductionFunctional dyspepsia (FD) is typically treated with serotonin receptor (5-HT) agonists such as cisapride, mosapride, tegaserod and tandospirone citrate. However, there are conflicting efficacy data, possibly due to significant heterogeneity between studies. In this meta-analysis, we analyzed the efficacy and safety data from studies evaluating the efficacy of serotonin receptor agonists in patients with FD.

Material and methodsRelevant studies were selected from the Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases. The meta-analysis included 10 RCTs which evaluated the efficacy of serotonin receptor agonists in patients with FD (final total of 892 patients in the serotonin receptor agonist group, and 640 participants in the placebo group). The primary outcomes were the response rates and abdominal symptoms score. The Cochrane Collaboration’s tool was used to assess risk. Sensitivity analysis was carried out using the leave-one-out approach.